Magnetic hammer

ABSTRACT

A hammer having a head of ferrous or other material with a striking face, at least one chamber at right angles to its striking face, with a permanent magnet in each chamber, and a hardened cap or end closure in each of said chambers in a manner to seal the magnet within the chamber and at the same time form a part of the striking face of the hammer.

United States Patent [5 6] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS {72] Inventor Robert Lay Hallock 32 Vine Road, Larchmont, N.Y. 10538 709,076

[2|] AppLNo, [22] Filed 5 m 0 7 5 4 1 NY I St Ue AG 41 65 99 11 91 235 767 Feb. 28, 1968 801,446

Primary Examiner-Lester M. Swingle Assistant Examiner--Roscoe V. Parker, Jr.

[45] Patented May 25, 1971 Attorneys-A. Yates Dowell and A. Yates Dowell, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A hammer having a head of ferrous or other [54] g S material with a striking face, at least one chamber at right ang g gles to its striking face, with a permanent magnet in each [52] 145/30 chamber, and a hardened cap or end closure in each of said B25d 1/04 chambers in a manner to seal the magnet within the chamber 145/29, 30, and at the same time form a part of the striking face of the hammer.

[51] lnt.Cl.r.............

PATENTEUHAYZSIQYI 3580.312

SHEET 1 BF 2 INVENTOR P06154 71. HALL 00A BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is in the special type of hammer art in which the hammer is employed for picking up a nail and for holding a nail without additional support, as well as for driving the nail, as for example through insulation or other material.

2. Description of the Prior Art Hammers of various kinds have been produced, some of which, such as Clark U.S. Pat. No. 2,671,483, have been magnetic; however, such hammers have not been completely satisfactory because they were expensive, magnetically weak, and fragile or lacking in durability. The magnets even when cushioned often crack and fall apart and lose their magnetism. If the major part of the striking surface is of nonmagnetic material such as brass or nonmagnetic stainless steel, which is soft, the striking surface is easily damaged.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a simple, inexpensive, practical,

sturdy and durable magnetic hammer, having a relatively ing face with at least one U-shaped magnet within the body substantially at right angles to said striking face and both the north and south poles of the magnet adjacent but slightly inwardly of the striking face which includes a closure or cap. This construction makes it practical to pick up a nail from a work bench by the magnetic attraction of the striking face of the hammer- I have discovered that brittle permanent magnet material will not crack from a hammer blow if completely and solidly encased or contained so that it is supported on all sides within a chamber or cavity within the head of a hammer. Thus the magnet material will be solidly mounted within the head of the hammer without any clearance space around the same.

This solid mounting may be readily accomplished when the head is of ferrous material by using an epoxy adhesive, solder, or other nonflexible noncompressible filler for filling the clearance space about the magnets and at the same time securing them within the head so that the magnets or magnetic material is hermetically sealed within the hammer. When the head is of hardened carbon steel it is advisable to use a nonmagneticsubstance around the magnets to shield them from the metal at the sides so that the magnetic force will be exerted only by the striking face of the hammer. When the head of the hammer is made of plastic, the chambers within the head may be of a size to receive the magnets with a forced fit so that the plastic itself shields the sides of the magnet and the magnetic attraction is only through the closure means of the striking face. In order to provide a U-shaped magnet in a plastic head the parallel chambers are connected by a transverse aperture across the inner ends of the chambers and into such transverse aperture a bar is forced before the magnets are inserted into contact with such bar and then the closure caps are forced into the outer ends of the chambers. Thereafter transverse pins are inserted through the head and such closure caps to secure the closure caps within the head of the hammer.

It is an object of the invention to provide a magnetic hammer of simple, relatively inexpensive, practical, durable and readily merchandizable character, as well as of relatively few parts, and with strong magnetic force.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hammer the head of which can be made of ferrous metal, plastic, or other substance, with magnetic material sealed within the head and having cover means for the magnets forming at least a part of the striking face and with the magnetic material electrical shielded to limit magnetic attraction through the striking face of the head.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2, a vertical section on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3, an exploded view of the hammer head and parts employed in the production of the same;

FIG. 4, a vertical section through the magnet receiving cylindrical chambers of-the head;

FIG. 5, a similar view with'the magnets therein;

FIG. 6, an end view of the striking face;

FIG. 7, a view similar to FIG. 5 after the metal is deformed to overlie and fasten the magnets in place;

FIG. 8, an end elevation of the striking face in its final form;

FIG. 9, a perspective of the hammer head with the magnet covering end caps;

FIG. 10, a longitudinal section on the line l0l0 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a perspective of a modified hammer;

FIG. 12, an end elevation of the striking face;

FIG. 13, a section on the line 13-43 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 14, a section on the line 14l4 ofFlG. 11;

FIG. 15, a perspective of a further modified embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16, a section ofthe line l6--l6 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 17, a section on the line 17- l7 ofFlG. l6, and,

FIG. 18, a fragmentary detail.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The hammer of the present invention may have a ferrous head 10 attached to a handle 11, such ferrous head having a driving or striking face 12. In order to hold the head of a nail or fastener against the driving face 12 a pair of bores or chambers 13 are drilled or otherwise formed in the head for the reception of permanent magnet material 14 and these magnets have their innermost ends in direct contact with the ferrous metal at the bottom or closed ends of the chambers 13. Thus a generally U-shaped type of magnet is provided by means of the two parallel magnets and the intervening portion of the head which joins the innermost extremities of the chambers 13.

The magnet material 14 is housed in or surrounded by sleeves or jackets 15 of brass or other suitable nonmagnetic material, and the sleeves are coated externally and internally with epoxy glue l6 and a hardened steel cap closure member 17 inserted in each chamber 13 adjacent the outer ends of the magnet'material so that the exposed surfaces of the two caps are relatively flush with the surface of the driving face of the hammer. The purpose of the epoxy glue is to retain and completely seal all the parts within the two chambers and to fill completely all voids between the parts and the chambers.

For retaining the parts within the chambers 13 the remote portions of the head at opposite sides of the chambers I3 are peened over or deformed inwardly or toward each other at 18. The face of the hammer is then ground so that the two caps are flush with and form a part of the driving face of the hammer. The magnet material is then magnetized to form a permanent U-shaped magnet.

The hammer may be produced by providing a head casting, drilling and reaming holes 0.566 inch in diameter, heat treating and drawn to Rock C3040 hardness with a striking face, providing nonmagnetic sleeves of brass or the like, permanent type magnet material, closures, and-epoxy adhesive and filler, incorporating said magnet material, sleeves, closures, epoxy adhesive and filler within said chambers in a manner to completely eliminate any air space between the parts and to tightly secure and hermetically seal the parts in place in a solid mass. This requires a clamping action of approximately l,000 lbs. against the closures for several seconds while crimping the metal of the head of the hammer at opposite sides of the holes, wiping off the excessive epoxy, drying and grinding the face of the hammer, and then magnetizing the magnet material. This results in a hammer having a head of hard composition including a driving or striking face and containing a horseshoe magnet of substantial size to provide adequate positive gripping action at the striking surface of the hammer on nails or fasteners to be held against the striking or driving face of the hammer solely by magnetism during the driving operation during which time the striking of a nail or fastener will not cause damage to the magnets on account of the way they are completely sealed and protected. With the construction just described, nails can be picked up from a work bench without the handling of the nail and without the nail being attracted or clinging to the side of the hammer. A ferromagnetic plate or cover 19 may be provided for the striking face of the hammer to the life of the magnet, when not in use. FIG. 3 illustrates the interior of the tubing and the exterior of the steel plug etched or knurled to improve the adherence of the epoxy glue to these surfaces.

if preferred instead of constructing a hammer of the kind described in FIGS. 1 to with only a pair of bores or chambers 13 containing nonmagnetic shielding sleeves in which the two legs of a new magnet are contained the hammer may be of the type illustrated in FIGS. R1 to 14 in which the hammer head 20 may have a driving face 21 with four chambers 22, for the reception of four permanent magnets 23. Each magnet has a shielding sleeve 24 of nonmagnetic material with the magnets and shielding sleeves encased and held within the chamber by epoxy glue 16 providing a mass of metal without voids or spaces. Except for the use of four magnets instead of two, the hammer of FIGS. 11 to 14, inclusive, is like that of FIGS. 1 to 10. This includes the manner in which the magnets are retained within the head of the hammer by deformation of the metal at 25 over the edge of caps or closure 25.

In the embodiments of the first 14 FIGS. the hammer heads are of ferrous material. A somewhat simpler and less expensive hammer is illustrated in FIGS. 1548 in which a hammer head 26 is attached to a handle 11. This hammer head 26 is of plastic and has a driving or striking face 27. A pair of bores (or four as in the preceding FIGS. or chambers 28 are drilled or formed in the hammer from and at right angles to the driving face in which are received magnets 29 and caps or closures 30. In communication with the inner ends of the chambers is drilled a cross opening 31 into which a crossbar 32 is driven with a forced fit. Magnets 29 are then driven with forced fit into the chambers 28 until their inner ends are solidly in contact with the crossbar 32, thus completing the U-shaped magnet.

After the magnets are installed caps or closures 30 likewise are driven in or installed with a forced fit. These closures preferably have transverse openings 34 for the reception of transverse locking pins 35, the hammer head 26 having aligned openings 36 in which the pins 35 are received. Thus the pins extend through the head 26 and through the closure members 30 and fasten the closure members securely in place I in the head. in view of the fact that the magnets are installed with a solid forced fit, the use of epoxy glue 16 may be used as indicated or it may be omitted. With this construction the material of the head being plastic or nonmetallic, it is unnecessary to provide additional shielding material as is necessary when the head is of ferrous material.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that the present invention contemplates a hammer of metal, plastic, or other material containing one or more U-shaped magnets shielded by nonmagnetic material at the sides and with a striking face and with caps or closures confining the magnets within the hammer and providingat least a portion of the striking face. it will be understood, of course, that the caps or closures are ferrous plugs. Further when two U- shaped magnets are employed positive and negative poles will be side by side. Also when the head of the hammer is of plastic or nonferrous material, the magnets each may be held in place by friction, by epoxy or by pins through the caps or closures. These pins may be of the conventional roll pin or flexible type. In each case each magnet is solidly encased within the head of the hammer.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the described embodiment of the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illus trated in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A magnetic hammer for holding and driving fasteners having ferrous portions, said hammer comprising a head constructed of ferrous material and having a substantially flat face, at least one bore extending inwardly from said face and terminating within said head, a nonmagnetic sleeve mounted within said bore and extending the full length thereof, a bar type permanent magnet mounted within said sleeve and having one end in intimate abutting relationship with said head at the end of said bore, a cap of ferrous material mounted in said sleeve and having one end in intimate abutting relationship with the other end of said magnet, the opposite end of said cap being substantially coplanar with the flat face of said head, an epoxy filler means disposed about said sleeve and said magnet and said cap to form a solid mass with said body, said cap having at least one reduced portion adjacent its opposite end, and a portion of said head and said sleeve being deformed into intimate abutting relationship with the reduced portion of said cap to retain said head and magnet and cap in intimate abutting relationship at their interfaces, whereby said head and said cap will form opposite poles of a horseshoe type magnet to attract and hold the ferrous portions of the fasteners.

2. The structure of claim l in which the interior of said sleeve and the exterior of said cap adjacent to said sleeve are knurled to improve the adherence of said epoxy filler means. 

1. A magnetic hammer for holding and driving fasteners having ferrous portions, said hammer comprising a head constructed of ferrous material and having a substantially flat face, at least one bore extending inwardly from said face and terminating within said head, a nonmagnetic sleeve mounted within said bore and extending the full length thereof, a bar type permanent magnet mounted within said sleeve and having one end in intimate abutting relationship with said head at the end of said bore, a cap of ferrous material mounted in said sleeve and having one end in intimate abutting relationship with the other end of said magnet, the opposite end of said cap being substantially coplanar with the flat face of said head, an epoxy filler means disposed about said sleeve and said magnet and said cap to form a solid mass with said body, said cap having at least one reduced portion adjacent its opposite end, and a portion of said head and said sleeve being deformed into intimate abutting relationship with the reduced portion of said cap to retain said head and magnet and cap in intimate abutting relationship at their interfaces, whereby said head and said cap will form opposite poles of a horseshoe type magnet to attract and hold the ferrous portions of the fasteners.
 2. The structure of claim 1 in which the interior of said sleeve and the exterior of said cap adjacent to said sleeve are knurled to improve the adherence of said epoxy filler means. 